I'm pretty sure that I have seen Jews in lots of historical fantasy, but it seems that you are asking about fantasy in general which is inspired but not set in medieval/dark age Europe.
To which I would ask "How is the presence of Jews a necessary part of the romance of the period?" What authors, in my opinion, have been inspired by are the ideas of feudalism, chivalry, paganism, and the heroic epic, which populated our modern romantic conceptions of the time.
One must not forget the fact that fantasy is fantasy, and I do not think that maligned racial minorities are a necessary part of fantasy (unless they happen to be of the magical or crazy cult varieties). There is, indeed, a lot of racism in fantasy, but it is usually rather heroic.
Or perhaps it is that "essentialism" that you spoke of. Fantasy often portrays different groups as being different in their very essence, rather than for arbitrary reasons. Thus the "Jews" of such worlds are not humans.
But that is just my opinion, which may be somewhat biased since I personally don't actually see what the fuss is really about.
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To which I would ask "How is the presence of Jews a necessary part of the romance of the period?" What authors, in my opinion, have been inspired by are the ideas of feudalism, chivalry, paganism, and the heroic epic, which populated our modern romantic conceptions of the time.
One must not forget the fact that fantasy is fantasy, and I do not think that maligned racial minorities are a necessary part of fantasy (unless they happen to be of the magical or crazy cult varieties). There is, indeed, a lot of racism in fantasy, but it is usually rather heroic.
Or perhaps it is that "essentialism" that you spoke of. Fantasy often portrays different groups as being different in their very essence, rather than for arbitrary reasons. Thus the "Jews" of such worlds are not humans.
But that is just my opinion, which may be somewhat biased since I personally don't actually see what the fuss is really about.